Jeffrey Horn, Jr. vs. Terence Allan Crawford

Somehow there hasn't been a dedicated poll thread made on this yet - not for the originally scheduled April 14th date nor for the new postponement date of June 9th.

Anyway, this will be on ESPN @ 10pm EST on Saturday the ninth of June.

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World Boxing Organization welterweight title at stake (Horn's 2nd defense).

Both men are 30 years of age. Horn is an inch taller while Crawford has a 2" advantage in reach.

The Hornet, a late bloomer who took up boxing at eighteen and quickly became a force both at home and internationally at 64kg, fought at the Olympics in London in 2012 and was eliminated by Denys Berinchyk, making his pro debut the following year. Bud spent years toiling on the 60kg domestic scene with mixed success against future pro champs & contenders, finishing with a 58-12 amateur record culminating in his elimination from Olympic qualifiers to compete in Beijing at the hands of Miguel Ángel González and Sadam Ali, debuting in 2008.

 

This will be an IB RBR™, btw - a reservation of rights made thanks wholly to Mr. Dillian Whyte*. If this is upsetting to you, or if you would have preferred @CST80 be at the helm of this event, you can direct your grievances to Mr. Lucas Browne for being such a worthless sack of turds.

(*per terms of my bet with CST on the Whyte vs. Browne fight)

 

The challenger moving up in weight is favored at -2250, while the champ is a +950 underdog.

 

Co-featuring will be a battle of unbeaten 27 year old former amateur stars in a 10-rounder for the vacant USBA 140lb title.

Maxim "Mad Max" Dadashev, 10-0 (9), has most everything stacked in his favor, outside the tale of the tape (where they stand eye to eye at 5'9", with a 1½″ reach advantage for Romero) - he's managed by powerful mover & shaker Egis Klimas, promoted by Top Rank, and coached by Roberto García. Wellington Arias "WAR" Romero, 14-0-1 (8), a southpaw who represented the Dominican Republic in the Olympics, had the misfortune to sign with Roc Nation/Throne Boxing and has been stagnating for the last few years on their watch. His opposition to date has been much weaker than Dadashev's in ⅔ as many bouts, yet he is as much a step up in class for the Russian as Mad Max is in turn for him.

 

I sincerely doubt this can turn into a boring fight. Horn won't settle for that; he will force a fight and either of two contingencies will develop from there:

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I like Bud a lot, but I am duty bound to root for him to get KTFO in this one as Horn's proxy head cheerleader in our departed comrade's stead:
https://www.boxingforum24.com/threads/australian-boxing-sm-memorial-thread.605269/

 

HOOOOOOLY SHIT, major update here:

The fight card will actually not be shown on ESPN. I repeat, the fight card will not be shown on ESPN. Nor on ESPN2. Nor even on ESPN360 (aka ESPN3), the free internet content-streaming product that is supplemental to an ESPN subscription in one's cable package.

No, this will be exclusively (at least in the USA) shown on the brand-new standalone PC & mobile app ESPN+, rolling out tomorrow, requiring users to subscribe for a fee of $4.99/mo.

 

Absolutely shocking & controversial move, and while Boxing Twitter has been apparently blowing up over it (haven't really taken a moment and combed through my timeline in a few days, so this is just getting to me now) there hasn't been a single thread - or even post - about it on here? You're slacking, ESB!

This is a huge development! The p4p #1 boxer in the country isn't going to be nationally televised - or televised, period, in the conventional sense, as in "on a TV" - in his bid to become a three-division world champion. Just let that sink in.